European Election Results 2014: Cheltenham and the South West decide

The Conservatives have bounced back from disappointment in the local elections in Cheltenham by topping the poll in the town's European vote - but it wasn't enough to stop them losing one of their three MEPs for the South West.

The Cheltenham results saw the Tories come top with 10,123 votes, with Ukip second with 8,231.

However, the six MEPs elected for the South West - a region stretching from Cornwall to Gloucestershire and including Gibraltar - were made up of two Tories, when previously there had been three.

The region was previously represented by three Tories, two Ukip and one Lib Dem.

UKIP topped the poll in 24 of the 38 districts of the South West. They have picked up the most number of seats across the country.

William Dartmouth, elected for the party along with Julia Reid, said: “This is a massive wake-up call to the establishment politicians and media – there are a lot of people dissatisfied and feel their concerns are not properly responded to.”

A surge in votes for the Green Party across the region saw Stroud’s Molly Scott Cato elected as the first Green MEP for the South West.

Her victory came at the expense of long-standing Liberal Democrat Sir Graham Watson who lost his seat in the European Parliament.

Olympic gold medal winning rower James Cracknell also failed to pick up a seat for the Conservatives, but Ashley Fox and Julie Girling were re-elected.

Labour's Clare Moody took a seat for Labour, who had won no seats at the previous election.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said his "dream has become a reality" and the party is now the "third force" in British politics after it topped the European polls nationally.

With only Scotland left to declare, UKIP has 27.5 per cent of the vote nationally and 23 MEPs.

Labour, on 25 per cent, is narrowly beating the Tories into second place while the Lib Dems lost all but one of their seats and came behind the Greens.

Turnout across the EU is up slightly at 43.1 per cent, according to estimates. Turnout in the UK was 33.8 per cent, down slightly on last time.

Conservatives topped the Cotswolds in the South West region with 10,863 votes, Ukip were second on 6,865, while the Liberal Democrats were third, scoring 3,063 votes.

Ukip came top in Gloucester in the South West region with 10,173 votes, Conservatives came second on 8,715, Labour came third on 6,899, Lib Dems came fourth with 2,329 and Greens fifth with 2,099

In the Forest of Dean, Ukip was in first with 8,359, Tories second with 6,497 and Labour third on 4,268.

The Green Party was fourth in the Forest with 2,588 votes pushing the Lib Dems into fifth. They took 1,238.

The Stroud Euro election results showed Tories top with 11,451, Ukip second on 9,348 and Labour third on 7071.

Tewkesbury Euro results: Conservatives win with 8257, Ukip second with 7165. Everyone else miles back. Labour third with 2436, Lib Dems fourth 2287, Green fifth 1953. Labour came top at Bristol in South West region with 30,517 votes; Ukip second (25,700); Green Party third (21,916); Conservative fourth (21,105); Liberal Democrats fifth 11,216.

HOW THE VOTING WORKS:

The European elections are decided using a proportional representation system of voting.

Voters will be given a ballot paper which lists the political parties and the candidates they have put forward for the election.

Voters only get one vote, putting an X next to the party they want to represent them.

Once votes are counted up seats are handed out to the parties with the most using a quota system.

The UK uses a closed list system of candidate selection which means it is up to the party to choose which candidate will be given a seat - should the party win one.

As such, the first seat a party wins will go to the first person on their candidate list, the second will go to the candidate listed second and so on.

Tmy63. The reason might have something to do with the rating votes on this article isn't working correctly .................. you're not limited to one vote , you can merrily click away and each click is recorded !!

I wonder in Martin Horwood will listen to his constituents on this one or simply represent his party. This is a vote that clearly says 'No' to the EU project. Third place in a Liberal stronghold is a disaster for him. It shows he is vulnerable at the General Election. Talking to local Conservatives, it is clear that the grassroots want out of this EU project as well as UKIP and that most don't really believe a renegotiation is possible. Perhaps now Mr Horwood will stop calling UKIP names - his xenophobic slurs have been hugely insulting to many UKIP supporters and I sincerely hope that the election of Ajmal Bashir as a UKIP MEP will help people see how ignorant his comments have been about UKIP (especially when one of the Lib Dem councillors recently went down for racially aggravated assault - something that the press at large chose to ignore because it was too busy UKIP bashing).